Reader Digest May 2008-----Pg 30~Pg 33

This article is about the nuclear incident in Brussels. On that Sunny afternoon, a terrorist presses a button and a small explosion occurs and propels a 'bullet' made of uranium into a cylindrical block cast from uranium. Within a few seconds, Ground Zero is heated to 100 million degrees centigrade, breaking all surroding matter into a formless plasma. Not only that, the gamma rays and neutrons killed a lot of people. The economic consequences of the blast quickly spread worldwide as Brussels had to cease all its commmerce. All the nuclear weapons are fuelled by either plutonium or uranium, materials that are extremely dfficult to make. If a terroist wanted to build a nuclear bomb, he would need to steal or buy fissile material from a country that had made it. One potential source would be from North Korea or Iran. I feel that there is no reason to buy from them as they are both rare materials and expensive to buy. Buying nuclear bomb and killing people does not mean any purpose either. Not only that, the thrist for buying these nuclear weapon would affect the country internal security as there would be more theft crimes. However, both North Korea and Iran still continue to sell their nuclear weapons so as to earn more money. Although they are being warned by other countres not to sell them, they ignored them. I feel that we must also clamp down on poorly safeguarded nuclear materials so that we could prevent terrorism. There are ways to reap the benefits of nuclear energy without putting our lives at risk, but it will take strong leadership. I suggest we could put the production of all nuclear fuel under the control of a global organisation like the International Atomic Enegry Agency so that the terrorist would easily get hold of them. To be sure terrorist cannot build a nuclear weapon, the world coummunity needs to lock up every bit of fissile material in Russia. However, even though we solved these problems, there is a one way in which the threat if nuclear terrorism would grow worse: after a three-decade lull, nuclear energy is coming back. We could prevent it by securing nuclear materials with well-trained security guards, adequate physical barriers, video cameras and remote sensors, new reactors could increase the availability of fissile materials.I feel that all these preventions could work if we have good leader to lead us.With the age of terrorism threatening to become an age of nuclear terrorism, perhaps it's worth another look. For the sake of all the innocent people and our next genrations, we must work hard to prevent another nuclear war.

From: ANG JUN HAO ( 30 )